Asking Out and Sliding In: Symbolic Gendering and College Students' Pathways into Relationships

• In Event: 1567 - Mate Selection and Relationship Formation

Abstract

The rise and proliferation of non-relational sexual scripts dictating short-term and emotionless sexual encounters on college campuses, combined with the persistence of gendered expectations for heterosexual relationship formation, complicates students’ interest in committed, monogamous, and egalitarian relationships. This paper draws on interviews with 56 heterosexual undergraduates ages 18-23 at an urban, public 4-year university in the Midwest to examine how students perceive and experience committed relationships and the role of gendered practices in their formation. I find that most relationships begin with “hanging out” and then follow either date (asking out) or hookup (sliding in) pathways into exclusivity. The dating pathway is characterized by “symbolic gendering” (Lamont 2016), but presents clearer progression into commitment. Students thus face a trade-off between gender egalitarianism and definitional clarity.

Author

• Rachel Catherine Allison, Mississippi State University